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LatinNews Daily - 23 August 2018

Argentina’s senate bows but does not give in to public pressure

Development: On 22 August Argentina’s federal congress unanimously voted in favour of authorising prosecutors to conduct searches in a number of properties owned by former president (2007-2015) and incumbent senator Cristina Fernández, as well as to approve a bill on domain extinction for ill-gotten assets.

Significance: Approval of the two initiatives was among the demands made during the major public demonstrations staged across Argentina the previous day in repudiation of a government corruption and bribery scandal implicating former officials in the Fernández administration and prominent local businessmen. Fernández, who remains an influential figure in the main opposition Partido Justicialista (PJ, Peronists) party, has been accused of being one of the main beneficiaries of the corruption. Demonstrators also called for the senate to strip Fernández of her immunity so that she can be prosecuted, but in the end the PJ-controlled chamber failed to do this. The question now is whether the moves in the senate will be enough to appease the public discontent.

  • Fernández rejects the allegations against her and insists that they are part of the political persecution that she has been subjected to by the incumbent centre-right Cambiemos government led by President Mauricio Macri. Fernández has repeatedly said that she is prepared to collaborate with the investigations to clear up the allegations, but has defended the need to retain her immunity so that she is not imprisoned by her political opponents. Fernández’s view has been backed by many of her PJ colleagues, which effectively means that Fernández has been ‘shielded’ in the senate.
  • However, after the mass demonstrations registered on 21 August, the senate came under intense pressure to move against Fernández. After an angry three-hour debate in which Fernández and her allies protested her innocence and accused the Macri government of being behind the judicial case against Fernández in an attempt to stop her from once again running for the presidency in next year’s general election, senators voted 67-0 in favour of authorising searches in three of Fernández’s properties as requested by a federal judge. Fernández herself voted in favour of the searches arguing that she had nothing to hide.
  • The senators also approved (by 40-26) a bill on domain extinction. The bill, which would apply to assets obtained via corrupt practices, had been stuck in congress for the last two years as legislators could not find consensus over the extent of the proposed bill. The bill now goes back to the chamber of deputies for further debate.

Looking Ahead: Following yesterday’s senate session it now remains to be seen how the Argentine public will react. But in a sign that the tensions are running high, yesterday a group of Fernández sympathisers set up a vigil outside her flat in the city of Buenos Aires with the intention of ensuring that any search of it is conducted in accordance with the law.

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